Ben Swift wins for Team Sky

Ben Swift gave Team Sky their first victory in 2011 after winning the second stage of the Tour Down Under creating a chaotic finale.

Swift, 23, prepared to go ahead of Chris Sutton when his team-mate crashed 4km from the finishing line, Swift stormed through to victory.

Second and third place went to RadioShack’s Robbie McEwen and Robobank’s Graeme Brown.

Another rider who took a fall close to the finish line in Mannum was Geraint Thomas at the 146km stage.

Swift said, ‘I couldn’t believe that G [Geraint] had fallen because he was right there with 200m to go.’

‘I’ve just seen him now and thankfully he is all right, but CJ [Sutton] is not so great and has a deep cut on his knee. He’s a tough guy and I’m confident he will be able to battle on.’

A further crash occurred with Mark Cavendish towards the end of the race who rides for HTC-Highroad. He finished three minutes and 47 seconds behind Ben Swift luckily avoiding any serious injuries.

Swift could be given the lead role due to Sutton and Greg Henderson having numerous recent falls.

Swift stated, ‘That would be a massive honour and I’d take it, for sure,” said Swift. “That said, I don’t mind dropping back and resuming my original lead-out role either. Whatever I have to do for the team, I’ll do it.”

The third stage of the race takes place from Unley to Stirling this Thursday.

Swift adds, ‘If I’ve got good legs, tomorrow’s stage could be one that suits me but it looks set to be a really tough one because the temperatures are due to rise to around 36 degrees,” added Swift. “We’ll just have to see how it goes.’

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